Western Bulldogs suffer wake-up call at hands of Greater Western Sydney

The Western Bulldogs suffered a painful end to a promising AFL season on Saturday as they were bullied, beaten around and ultimately destroyed by a ruthless Greater Western Sydney line-up.

Bulldogs players leave the field after the AFL elimination match between the GWS Giants and Western Bulldogs at Giants Stadium. Picture. Phil Hillyard

A promising season came to a painful end for the Western Bulldogs on Saturday as their hopes of a second fairytale premiership in four years went up in smoke in western Sydney.

Coach Luke Beveridge’s Bulldogs were bullied, beaten around and ultimately destroyed by a ruthless Greater Western Sydney line-up that became the only AFL club to win a final in each of the past four years.

The Bulldogs fielded just eight players from the 2016 flag on Saturday and their clutch of young talent remains the envy of the competition.

But Saturday’s 16.17 (113) to 8.7 (55) drubbing was soured further by a knee injury to teenage forward Aaron Naughton, who is leading the AFL for contested marks this season.

Naughton hobbled from the field in the third quarter at Giants Stadium and, while he was seen later on crutches, the Bulldogs were last night confident he had avoided serious injury.

Retiring Giant Brett Deledio, 32, broke down in tears on the final siren and was chaired from the field in the knowledge that his 275th game would be his last after suffering yet another injury on Saturday.

Bulldogs fans ahead of the AFL match between the GWS Giants and Western Bulldogs at Giants Stadium. Picture. Phil Hillard

The former Tiger revealed last week he had battled 30 soft-tissue tears in the twilight of his career; Deledio then tore his calf in the first quarter on Saturday but bravely played on.

The Giants were desperate to pack out their home ground, with fans writing messages in the sky on Thursday and the club heavily promoting its home final.

There appeared to be thousands of empty seats, but the official attendance was displayed as 19,218 at the 24,000-capacity stadium.

That was the sixth-biggest home crowd in GWS history. But it should’ve been greater with some Bulldog fans failing to make it to Sydney due to disruptions at Melbourne Airport.

A handful of Victorians were still filing into Giants Stadium during the third quarter yesterday following lengthy delays, while radio commentary teams also had their itineraries mucked up due to flight delays.

In a spiteful contest, the Giants physically targeted Bulldogs superstar Marcus Bontempelli with tagger Matt de Boer and 108kg ruckman Shane Mumford roughing up the Brownlow Medal fancy at most stoppages.

The rough-house tactics worked, with Bontempelli restricted to just two disposals in the second half.

Bulldogs players leave the field after the AFL elimination match between the GWS Giants and Western Bulldogs at Giants Stadium. Picture. Phil Hillyard

The Dogs booted 12 consecutive goals against GWS in Round 22, keeping the home team to just two behinds in the second half of their 61-point win in a match that had many pointing to a similar result on Saturday.

Matthew Suckling extended that run of goals against GWS to 13 when he bombed a 60m major just 15 seconds into Saturday’s elimination final.

But after that Giants coach Leon Cameron’s clever plans to shut down any space for the Bulldog midfielders clicked into gear, while the return of stars including Mumford and Jeremy Cameron also helped turn the tables.

Leon Cameron, who played 172 games for the Dogs in the 1990s, now appears safe as Giants coach as the club prepares to plot its first interstate finals win this week.

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The 58-point loss was the Dogs’ second biggest of the season and a shock reversal in form after they charged into September with seven wins from their final nine home-and-away games.

That hot streak had passionate fans dreaming of a repeat of 2016, particularly given September started with a rematch of the famous preliminary final from three years ago.

The Dogs were fortunate to trail by just four points when Josh Schache goaled early in the third quarter but were outclassed for the remainder of the contest.

The visitors fielded the most inexperienced team of the finals and still boast one of the most exciting young lists in the competition.

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